This is a joke, right? I went through the first dozen, and honestly couldn't figure out what most of them meant without reading the caption (except the "handicapped toilets" sign which is also quite common in North America).

I guess I might have been able to figure out the "Caution: Monkeys!" one, except I'd already been freaked out by the baseball-bat-wielding cat and the angry-looking bird, and didn't take the monkey picture literally.

I'm not saying they *are* broken -- they probably work quite well if you read Japanese -- but the idea that they communicate universal ideas is simply preposterous.

Posted by: E.T. at February 18, 2005 01:06 PM

They aren't broken if you understand Japanese. But calling these a well-designed set of pictorial signs is a little far-fetched. Mind you, most of the signs don't appear to be designed with universal recognition in mind, but rather is intended for those who can read Japanese.

Posted by: Carlos Gomez at February 18, 2005 01:12 PM

What's broken is the website navigation. It uses 'fast forward' and 'rewind' double arrows where it should, according to wide convention, use 'next' and 'previous' single arrows.

Posted by: DaveC426913 at February 18, 2005 02:13 PM

Profanity warning: The editor apparently knows onoly one word for "excrement." Otherwise, it doubles as a pretty good documentary of Japanese signage. I agree, though, they aren't very universal and many aren't intuitive.